HISTORICAL VIGNETTE: Florida Baptist Witness

Luther Rice is credited with being the father of Baptist journalism. In 1822 he founded the Columbian Star. Nine Baptist state papers were the forerunners of Florida Baptist Witness and each of them has made wonderful contributions. Georgia (1821), Kentucky (1825), Virginia (1828), North Carolina (1833), Tennessee (1835), Alabama (1835), South Carolina (1869), Mississippi (1877), and Louisiana (1883) had state papers before Florida (1884).

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The first attempt at a Florida Baptist paper was the Baptist Telegraph and Florida Emigrant begun in Jacksonville in 1848, by James McDonald. The paper died after about three years due to lack of funds.

The actual parent of Florida Baptist Witness would have been “The Florida Index” or “The Florida Page” that was included in the Georgia Baptist paper called The Christian Index and South-Western Baptist. An agreement was reached in 1875 for the Georgia paper to carry a Florida column, and William Newell Chaudoin (1829-1904) “conducted” the articles until the column was discontinued in 1883.

Napoleon Alexander Bailey (1833-1897) and Chaudoin had issued a “prospectus of a Baptist paper for Florida” as early as 1860, but the idea never got beyond that stage.

In 1872 the Santa Fe Association and the Florida Association endorsed the Baptist paper idea and actually published the Florida Baptist from 1873-1875. H. B. McCallum served as editor and the paper was published in Lake City. There were only 8,551 Baptists reported in the whole state, and the paper soon suspended publication due to a lack of support.

The Florida Baptist Witness was born January 1, 1884, at Lake City. F. B. Moodie and A. P. Ashurst were the editors. N. A. Bailey and W. N. Chaudoin served as associate editors. The first issue appeared on January 17, 1884, and had four pages. The paper had private ownership off and on from 1884-1918.

W. G. Stracener

The Florida Baptist Convention met in Tallahassee in January 1918 and instructed the State Board of Missions to take over the paper. It was purchased for $4,000. Since 1918 there have been eight different editors. The serving editors have been J. W. Mitchell (1918-1928), Pinkney Leslie Johnston (1928-1931), Edward Davis Solomon (1931-1949), W. G. Stracener (1949-1970), Edgar R. Cooper (1970-1984), Jack E. Brymer (1984-1995), Michael Chute (1995-2001), and James A. Smith Sr. (2001- ). The current circulation of the Florida Baptist Witness is more than 46,000.

The paper has changed names, locations and editors down through the years but has remained a vital part of telling the good news in the state of Florida.